


No More Friday Night Drinks

by feelingofthesea



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Awkward Dates, Bad Matchmaking, Crushes, Drabble, F/M, Mutual Pining, Older Man/Younger Woman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:02:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25086598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feelingofthesea/pseuds/feelingofthesea
Summary: Maybe repeatedly waking up hungover in the Potter's guest room wasn't the worst thing that happened to Hermione in a while after all.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/James Potter
Comments: 28
Kudos: 114
Collections: LoveDump 2020





	No More Friday Night Drinks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyKenz347](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyKenz347/gifts).



> I love you Toni! This is the closest I got to smut without having forever to write it.  
> You are a really bright spot in my life and I am forever grateful for it!
> 
> A million hugs and kisses to [LumosLyra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LumosLyra/pseuds/LumosLyra) for polishing this up in advance!
> 
> Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this creation.

Hermione pulled the pillow from under her head and covered her eyes with it. She felt like it was only seconds ago that she’d stumbled into the guest room at Potter Cottage somewhere around two o’clock in the morning and collapsed onto the bed. Even though she was utterly knackered, she was wide awake again because the damn birds outside that just wouldn’t shut up and the sunlight seemed to burn through her retina every time she opened her eyes. 

Harry  _ fucking _ Potter was definitely going to be the death of her. Hermione was absolutely sure that her head was about to explode, simply because her best friend and his lover had the impression she spent too much time alone and convinced her to join their night out. 

She really should have known better by now. 

Every time they went for drinks lately, they  _ happened _ to meet a  _ good friend _ of Harry or Theo, who  _ happened _ to be interested in spending time with her, and suddenly she found herself with said friend as her only company. The problem was Hermione was not interested at all and most nights ended like this: with a headache in the Potter’s guest room. 

She hurled the pillow at the door with a groan and decided to get coffee and a sober up potion. Barefoot and only clad in one of Harry’s old Quidditch jerseys, Hermione made her way to the kitchen. The house was still quiet with the peace of early morning hours which made the squeaking sound of her feet on the stairs entirely too loud. Hermione silently cursed Harry  _ again, _ and swore to herself if he dared to show up on her doorstep next Friday she would hex him into another year.

Despite its awful taste, the sober up potion brought instant relief. Yawning, Hermione drew a hand through the frizzy disaster on her head as she reached for a cup on one of the top shelves. 

“I could definitely get used coming home to a sight like this.”

The cup was shattered on the floor with a loud  _ crack _ and Hermione spun around to find herself face to face with James Potter. Objectively speaking, James was a very handsome man. Subjectively speaking, she’d had a thing for him for a really long time — ever since Harry’s fifteenth birthday when James had come home early to find them in the living room depleting his stash of Firewhiskey. Harry had been furious that his dad  _ crashed _ his birthday party, but Hermione could only stare at the older man, as she did now. 

Shaking her head to rid herself of the memory of James Potter dressed impeccably in dress robes, she turned to the counter again and reached for another cup, intending to vanish the remnants of the other one, only to be distracted by the sight of James looking absolutely fit in his auror robes. Drawing a deep breath, Hermione filled the italian espresso machine James had brought home after one of his missions citing the need for stronger coffee and set it to brew. Fuck. This was  _ Harry’s dad _ she was thinking about. He’d held her hand when she broke her ankle on their camping trip and watched her cry over that git McLaggen in sixth year as Harry awkwardly tried to comfort her. Surely, he didn’t see anything more in her than a silly little girl,and even if he did, he was still Harry’s dad.

Hermione would later recall the exact moment James stepped closer, because her whole body tensed and there were chills running along her arms and neck. She stood at the counter as if she’d been petrified, and barely registered that he brushed her hair aside and leaned in even closer.

“Can you even imagine what seeing my name on your back does to me?“ His voice was just a whisper, but her body was on fire.

Drawing what felt like the deepest breath of her life, Hermione turned to face him, her courage faltering as she peered up at him through her lashes. The shy expression on her face was matched with fierce passion etched into his features. His pupils were blown wide and the dark black nearly consumed the entirety of his irises. Before Hermione’s self consciousness had the chance to take over, his lips were on hers and she was lost — completely. To the fire he ignited in her, to the feeling of his hand on her hip and the other buried in her hair, to his body pressing closer to hers and the burning his lips left along her jaw. 

A loud bubbling sound snapped them out of their reverie, and Hermione jumped backward in surprise, a stinging pain shooting through her foot only seconds later. 

She’d stepped on the broken pieces of the cup. 

“Fuck, Hermione! I’m so sorry… I should have never… I’m tired — it was the absolute worst shift and… I’m sorry.“ She stared at him in awe, ignoring the pulsing pain in her foot because James Potter was rambling,  _ actually rambling _ .

Before Hermione had the chance to say anything, a sleep-dazed Harry stepped into the kitchen, wearing his confusion openly on his face. James fled the room as soon as his gaze fell on his son, and Hermione smirked to herself and decisively renounced her previous opinions on Friday night drinks with Harry and Theo.

**Author's Note:**

> In the end love always wins.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, it means the world to me!


End file.
